West Thurrock and Dartford same day couriers

Here we are, talking to Business Video Productions about being a West Thurrock same day courier and what is different about our business. We talk about our sustainable beliefs, our testimonials and what we do. You get to see the team behind Arrow Light Haulage!



Sarah

Delivering to Deadlines in Thurrock

When something is urgent and has to get there to a deadline, the best option is to use a same day courier service but what exactly does that entail?

A same day courier uses a dedicated vehicle to collect your goods and then goes straight to the delivery destination. Now here's the tricky part, some people say they do same day but actually co load your cargo with another customers cargo. Nothing wrong with that until you have something smash because its fragile and should not be transported with anything else. Oh yes, and you will still pay premium price...

When booking make sure you specify that goods cannot be co-loaded and if they can and they are non urgent, tell that to your courier too. Of course when you book an express or same day courier, you are booking a premium service and the price reflects that level of service and urgency.

We are happy to collect and deliver same day urgent goods in the Thurrock area, to all over the UK. We don't co load and we don't miss a deadline. Priceless really ;-)

regards Kev
07816 528421

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Hauliers up in arms over hard shoulder use!

My dear wife is up in arms today, she is concerned about the hard shoulder running.

In theory it’s a good idea -  ease congestion by using the hard shoulder. It certainly saves money on widening the roads, but for a government so obsessed with Health and Safety, I cannot think why they would believe this is a good idea! In all honesty a few months back, I thought it was a good idea, now I am not so sure.

Imagine this scenario, a 44 tonne lorry has broken down at 4.15pm. The recovery services are called and the driver is waiting to be recovered. Rush hour arrives and drivers without thinking pile into the hard shoulder, making it impossible for the lorry to be recovered quickly, causes more congestion and puts the drivers life at risk.Hauliers up in arms over hard shoulder use!

I can see her point of view regarding lorries carrying hazardous goods / chemicals. Yes, they could get rammed and spilled and cause a far bigger catastrophe to the environment than what widening a lane would.

Would congestion actually ease? Would the traffic actually flow better for using the hard shoulder?

Where I am based in Thurrock a section of the A13 has had Chevrons painted in. Most vehicles drive evenly spaced with one chevron between them. This shows when there is an accident - the vehicles slow and effortlessly move lanes, because there is now the space to do that. Yes the traffic slows but it doesn't stop.

Could the government look into doing and enforcing these ways rather than putting peoples lives at risk?

 

What do you think?

 

Kevin

 

Moving your trampoline via courier

Often we buy things and then when we move house we have a near cardiac arrest about how we are going to move them! A Trampoline is one of those items, a shed/ gazebo is usually the other one

Generally speaking to move a trampoline (if applicable) you would first removed the supports for the safety net, You would not necessarily have to dismantle all of the poles and neither would you have to remove the net ties.

Once removed this can them be strapped together and easily lifted by two people onto your removal van.

The main body of the trampoline may or may not have to be dismantled depending on the size of the removal vehicle. Having said this I would strongly recommend removing the canvas and the protective paddings to prevent damage during transit, thus leaving only the metal frame.Moving in Essex? You need Essex Removals, Jan 2009

If you need any help, or are reluctant to do it yourself, we can always do it for you you. Just give us a call or drop us an email.

Sarah

The Most Expensive Delivery in The World?

Seriously how much for delivery… $42 million dollars if it was a Nasa space shuttle. Nasa are planning on selling their old ’stock’ delivery  / shipping and handling is $42 million dollars.

Why so much? Moving a wide, heavy load is expensive.  A fully loaded shuttle can take up to three hours to move one mile.  Now in this instance it will not be carrying the fuel so it should be able to move that bit faster. Banksmen and other technical and non technical support is also required. You cannot just through a shuttle on the back of a lorry and hope there will need to be police escorts and co-ordination with the highways agencies etc. It could be split down and sent by road and air but most likely it would be shipped.

If you can afford to buy one, I am sure the delivery charges are not a problem the good news is decommissioning fees are also included!The Most Expensive Delivery in The World?

What would you say if Nasa called and ask YOU to deliver a shuttle? ;-)

Kevin

Delivering big, awkward, bulky items but most certainly NOT space shuttles

The Pope’s courier

I have just been reading this fascinating article in the Guardian about the Pope’s Courier. On average Thaddeus Kühnel does 150,000 miles to collect and deliver gifts from the Pope. This year he has collected his favourite German Sweetmeats (a carload full!) and a footwarmer.

With the Vatican issuing guidelines regarding environmental issues and encouraging their congregation to be greener, I felt they could have been a bit greener themselves. They could have used the secure (diplomatic)  postal systems to deliver his items. Looking at it in more detail, I realise the safest, most secure option for him would have been a dedicated courier which is exactly what he used

When security is of the utmost importance a dedicated courier is the very best option, I hope that Thaddeus Kühnel has his vehicle tracked in case of hijack and remembers to secure his vehicle every time he leaves it. I am sure he uses up to date software to plan his routes - so that they are the most efficient. I know he will be co-loading whenever possible to keep costs down and make the fuel go further…

I also hope that Mr Kühnel has changed his vehicle since this article was published, as he could now become a target. It’s vital to keep things confidential as a courier and unless you have your customers approval, discretion is a must. Especially when your client is a religious world leader.

 

Infallible Christmas gifts: Pope’s courier reveals secrets | World news | The Guardian

Kühnel drove from the pope’s home state of Bavaria to the Vatican yesterday to personally deliver this year’s boot-load of food, as well as five Christmas trees that were strapped to the roof of his car.

Lebkuchen honey and spice biscuits, stollen German Christmas cake, and chocolate were among the treats, Kühnel told German media. Of the trees, which came from the pope’s home town, Marktl am Inn, Kühnel said: “One is for the Pope’s living room, and two are for private chapels.”

Butchers in Marktl am Inn began selling Ratzinger sausages in his honour when he became pope in 2005.

There was also a present from the pope’s brother, Georg, 84, a retired priest. Kühnel would not reveal what it was, but said “usually they give each other practical things, like wristwatches and electric foot-warmers”.

Kühnel said he had already clocked up around 250,000km 150,000 miles in his car, delivering goods to the pope that he had personally requested, along with presents from his old friends, staff and distant relatives. “I deliver all the things he misses about Bavaria, including fruit nectar, Bavarian sausages from his favourite restaurant, advent wreaths and German sweets. He has a very sweet tooth,” Kühnel said.

“The first thing I brought to Rome, in my car, was a paschal candle, as well as some fruit from Adelholzen and mineral water. He likes the Christmas cookies that women from Bavarian parishes bake at home as well as those made at certain monasteries. He also likes the chocolates made in Aachen.”

The Pope’s courier, Dec 2008

 

It's not an easy job delivering goods from food stuffs to presents, but having a happy customer is very rewarding.

Merry Christmas

Sarah & Kevin

10,000 hours and you STILL want someone else to deliver?

This week I have been reading articles about someone called Malcolm Gladwell and the Outliers, and in these articles research by a chap called K Anders Ericsson is quoted.

In the early 90s, the psychologist K Anders Ericsson and two colleagues set up shop at Berlin’s elite Academy of Music. With the help of the academy’s professors, they divided the school’s violinists into three groups. The first group were the stars, the students with the potential to become world-class soloists. The second were those judged to be merely “good”. The third were students who were unlikely ever to play professionally, and intended to be music teachers in the school system. All the violinists were then asked the same question. Over the course of your career, ever since you first picked up the violin, how many hours have you practised?

Everyone, from all three groups, started playing at roughly the same time - around the age of five. In those first few years, everyone practised roughly the same amount - about two or three hours a week. But around the age of eight real differences started to emerge. The students who would end up as the best in their class began to practise more than everyone else: six hours a week by age nine, eight by age 12, 16 a week by age 14, and up and up, until by the age of 20 they were practising well over 30 hours a week. By the age of 20, the elite performers had all totalled 10,000 hours of practice over the course of their lives. The merely good students had totalled, by contrast, 8,000 hours, and the future music teachers just over 4,000 hours.

Now, I am not quite sure where this quote comes into play with Mr Gladwells book (ok, maybe it’s about genius ), but I do know that having worked at least 48 hours a week for the last 6 years delivering cargo, freight and the odd sofa or two we have clocked up at least 10,000 hours. Thats in just our own business, Kev has another 14 years experience in doing this for other companies.  So, that makes us an expert apparently…. and we certainly do know all the tips and tricks to get the best out of your delivery.

So, would you rather see the local schools piano teacher or Maksim? Well, I am sure they both have their place in life, and you choose what is appropriate. If Maksim was looking to move his grand piano, would he use Joe Blogs from down the road who had been trading 5 minutes or would he use a professional piano mover? He would use the professional piano mover of course.

We often get phone calls about Freight / Cargo deliveries that have gone wrong, and the most common these people have used someone who are cheap. They have no experience or wisdom to pay for, and then the customer  gets upset when it has gone wrong. We get upset too, why didn’t they come to us first? It would have been the far more cost effective courier option10,000 hours and you STILL want someone else to deliver?

Sarah

 

What does your courier quote include?

When you book a parcel courier do you read the small print?

Last week we took on a new customer who had read the ’small print’ and found it not to his liking until he came to us. When doing his research he found that he would often be charged a ’surcharge’ for delivering to a private address rather than a business address - between £3-£5 extra. He would also be charged a 5% fuel surcharge, and if he went over weight by even just a kilo, he would be charged an extra £3.00 as well.

He started to add it all up and realised the £8.95+VAT he was being charged for delivery wasn’t that cheap once the ’surcharges’ had been added, if fact it could double the initial price for a parcel!

At Arrow Light Haulage we believe in a transparent pricing system - that the cost is determined by the items weight, and thats it. The only extras we charge for are items such as packing and wrapping materials, again this is optional.

So, if you have a parcel to collect in Basildon, Chelmsford or West Thurrock & Dartford give us a call on 0844 884 3331 we are a flat rate courier, no surcharges unless of course you want us to charge for them

Regards

Kevin

West Thurrock same day and parcel courier

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Less bucks = more bang

Delivering fireworks.....

Fireworks are generally not allowed to be delivered by couriers. Quick quiz: If you are a professional truck driver, a good thing to haul is…

a) jelly doughnuts
b) bunny rabbits
c) designer shoes
d) highly explosive fireworks

You need specialist training to deliver fireworks, and if you are using a courier to do this, check the small print before suggesting they do not need the training… if you wrongly suggest they can deliver the fireworks and they have an accident where do you stand with your corporate manslaughter liabilities?

Be very careful not to get caught up in the small loads small print of 8.2.3 of ADR Link how VOSA and other agencies interpret may be different from how you do. To be quite blunt, a white diamond symbol does not mean you can transport and deliver fireworks as a courier.Fireworks: Delivering without the bang!There are no fireworks in the uK that can be carried by road for hire and reward without the courier in question having at the very least ADR 'awareness training!

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High Value Goods Courier

As a Same Day Courier company, we are often asked to deliver high value goods. All the items that we collect and deliver, we keep confidential but here are some examples of things we can move, that are high value:-

• Photographic art

• Reels of Film

• Fine Wines
  

• Rare musical instruments

• Fine Jewellery

• Designer labelled clothes

Delivering High Value Goods.

Each item we deliver is tailored to it’s needs. Whether it’s careful wrapping in soft felt blankets (to prevent scratching) or strapping securely to prevent breakage.It's best to deliver the high value goods on the same day, using express courier services, this means there is les chance of something going wrong with your delivery. Our drivers are CRB checked and have training in defensive driving. Each route is planned moments after we collect the item, so no one but the driver knows the jopurney to be travelled, and then we track our vehicles just to be even safer. Check when you book your courier that you are getting the same great service.

Sarah

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What do you factor in for your same day courier?

When do you book your courier? Is it dependant on what type of service you need? When your goods are ready to be moved? or do you give it a few days notice?

If you leave it till the goods are ready, you could land up with a hefty waiting time bill, if something goes wrong at the last minute. This is most likely to happen when waiting for printed materials to dry and then be loaded. What can you do to prevent your same day courier costs going through the roof? Often it’s as easy as telling them what items are going to be transported, as the more experienced courier can then factor in prep and drying time, and make the drivers aware of the possibility of waiting when they come to collect.What you need to factor into being ready for your courier

Do you factor in all the probablilties when you have goods to move? Would you like us to do it for you?

Sarah

Same Day Courier Services

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More accidents caused by drivers using left hand drive....

I have been reading this over on my freight emergency blog, thought it would be interesting to read.... Freight Emergency deals with moving goods onwards in the event of an accident, so the supply chain is kept in tact.

Vehicles from overseas were involved in 163 accidents in which someone either died or suffered serious injuries in one year, while British hauliers were involved in 1,956.

But with foreign HGVs accounting for only one per cent of the total in the country, the proportion of accidents in which they are involved is far greater.

Campaigners say that foreign lorries are not maintained to the same safety levels as British ones.

Many accidents are also caused because they are designed to be driven on the right hand side of the road and drivers cannot see motorists alongside when they are changing lanes on motorways and dual carriageways.

More than one in five trucks operated by overseas hauliers have also been found to be unroadworthy.

The findings reignited the debate over the need for tighter controls on thousands of lorries which come in from the continent, amid fears that many do not comply with UK safety standards.

At the same time they are more at risk because they are designed to be driven on the right hand side of the road, which creates additional problems including judging turns and seeing what else is on the road.

In addition some overseas lorry drivers are unfamilar with British roads and some have run into trouble using satellite-navigation devices which resulted in trucks being stuck after being guided into small side-roads.

The extent of the risk posed by overseas lorries were were buried in a Government document on plans to impose on-the-spot fines on overseas lorry drivers and increase penalties for more serious offences.

According to the latest figures, covering 2006, foreign lorries were involved in 163 accidents in which someone either died or suffered serious injuries.

This was nearly eight per cent of the total involving heavy goods vehicles.

The Department for Transport also found random inspections revealed that 22 per cent of foreign lorries were unroadworthy.

This means that foreign lorries are three times more likely to be in a dangerous condition than their UK counterpart on British roads.

The UK haulage industry has now called on the Government to get tough with foreign lorry drivers who fail to meet British safety standards.

“It is quite clear that foreign lorries operating on UK roads are most certainly not maintained to the sort of safety level which has been created by the UK operator licensing regime,” said a spokesman for the Freight Transport Association.

“The UK licensing system, involving annual tests and roadside inspections,has resulted in UK lorries being the safest on the roads and, on a mile for mile basis, being involved in about half the number of accidentsas cars.

“We estimate that, on a mile for mile basis, a foreign lorry is three times more likely to be involved in an accident than a UK vehicle.

“Lorries are a vital ingredient in the way we live - if you’ve got it then it has been inside the back of a lorry.

“Too often we see that the operating standards of foreign lorries working in the UK are not what they should be.”

The call for tougher action was backed by Robert Gifford, Executive Director of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety, said “The government has at long last recognised in these figures the over-representation of foreign registered HGVs in accidents on British roads.

“In addition to tougher penalties and better enforcement of the law once these vehicles have reached the UK, we also need to look at preventing them from coming here in the first place.

“More consistent enforcement across Europe is essential, ensuring that our high standards of roadworthiness are supported throughout the EU.”

Mr Gifford called for inspectors from the Government’s Vehicle and Operating Services Agency to be stationed at French ports of Caen and Calais.”

“The Government should now look to tougher rules to enter the UK in order to prevent British lives being lost.”

However, the Department for Transport insisted that it was already stepping up its drive against dangerous overseas lorries.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Freight Emergency

Back in June the rules changed to allow Foreign drivers to take backloads from the UK to countries on their journey, or where they were returning to. Whilst this method is undeniably greener, you have increased frequency of your driver causing or being in an accident, and what happens to your load then? What are the extra costs involved in an accident?

What are your thoughts?

Kevin
Same Day Courier Services

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Couriers - room for improvement?

Another little gem on the internet, this time from a website that deals with consumer issues. It's a very good read, the link is at the end of the quote. The article goes on to make some suggestions on what can be done to make things easier for the consumer when expecting delivery..

* Companies that offer "delivery within 2-3 days" - Well, which is it? And does that include the weekend?

* Companies that say "your order has been dispatched", but not how it's being delivered (Royal Mail, Courier, 24 hours?)

* Companies that let you order when there's no stock, but don't tell you that it's back in stock and they shipped it - the first you know is when you get the "we tried to deliver but..." card

* Failed deliveries where the little boxes aren't ticked so there's no clues - so you drive to the sorting office to get a bit of junk mail that the kind postie didn't want to fold or leave outside, when you were expecting to be picking up your hi-fi.

* Couriers that aren't flexible. "We can't deliver to your work address. We don't deliver on Saturdays. You can't collect from our depot"

* Couriers websites that let you view online tracking... that's a day out of date

We all have to work, and it's not always possible to take a day off work waiting for the knock on the door. I've lost count of the number of days I've either:

* Waited in for a courier that didn't show

* Faffed about with parcel-tracking websites and "we called but..." cards

* Spoken to a courier's head office to arrange redelivery - and got very frustrated

* Tried to get a number for the courier's depot (not the call centre)

* Driven to a depot on a Saturday to collect something a courier wouldn't send out at a weekend

Help with mail order deliveries and couriers.

As a courier company, we are happy to delivery out of hours and on a Saturday, or even a Sunday. Parcel deliveries we do Monday to Friday, and any delivery estimates do not include Saturday or Sunday when it comes to the parcels.

Parcels we will try and deliver three times, and always leave a card with contact details on.

Same day or Express deliveries, we can tell you within 15 minutes what time your items will arrive, and we call our customers an hour prior to delivery, so if they have to nip up the shops for a pint of milk, they can do so without worry.

When looking for a courier service that understands what customer service means, look for someone local. Bigger is not always better when it comes to delivering your goods.

Sarah

Basildon, Chelmsford & West Thurrock Same Day and Parcel courier

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Need a TV delivered from West Thurrock?

By Same Day courier? By the parcel network? overnight delivery? Lots of choice, but which one is the best to courier your Television?

The Parcel networks, although the cheapest option, cannot take the weight of TVs. Even the new Plasma / LCD style screens come in over the cubic weight that a parcel carrier can take.

Another option is a overnight pallet service, where your TV would be strapped and shrink wrapped to a pallet and loaded, and transhipped several times before reaching you or your customer. This increases the chance of damage, and you never know for certain at what point that damage happened.

We recommend that television collection and deliveries are an item that can be co-loaded onto a vehicle. This means that the vehicle has other items on it, there is a small risk of damage from the other items, but in the case of a correctly packaged TV set, that is minimal. We have never damaged one this way yet. Depending on the style of TV, depends on whether a two man team is needed. Our vehicles are equipped with sack barrows and tail lifts, so that only a huge boxed TV set would actually need two men, the rest can be delivered by our well trained drivers.

If you have bought a Television set from ebay, or one of the retail parks in West Thurrock and require us to collect / package it for you, we can do that easily. We use recycled packaging, and we are happy to collect and deliver those large items like TVs and white goods, that are often just collect in person.

So, if it needs lifting and shifting, give us a call even if it's just for free advice 0844 884 331 or 07816 528421.

Sarah

Essex Television delivery

A cheap courier at what price?

I have been reading this from The Courier Shop Blog:

Kent courier business Beeline Sameday has had its licence revoked and its boss disqualified after failing to observe drivers’ hours and tachograph rules.

VOSA analysis of tacho charts revealed driving and tachograph offences, missing kilometres, excessive driving and insufficient daily rest. Three drivers had been convicted of 16 drivers’ hours offences and the firm pleaded guilty to 10 counts of permitting these offences at Medway Magistrates’s Court in July. The company was fined £1,800.

Beeline Sameday failed to report driver convictions from 2006 and 2007 to the Traffic Commissioner’s office, and TC Christopher Heaps found that the company had effectively operated without a transport manager for years. He even pointed out it was unclear if the nominated transport manager, John Crook, was still alive.

The TC said that although Harvinda Pasricha was listed as the sole director, “by reference to her body language, I find that she is not, and has not been the director de facto. She does not even know her own salary.”

Kent courier disqualified for hours offences - 15/09/2008 - RoadTransport.com

Kent courier disqualified for hours offences, Sep 2008

It seems now, more than ever courier companies need to look at their systems and procedures when it comes to drivers hours. Obviously companies want to save money and ‘labour’ is one area where people think they can cut back. Care needs to be take, because it can put you in a position where your company breaks the law.

What I have always said to companies that use cheap and cheerful couriers is, do they treat their drivers ethically? do they pay the minimum wage? Whats the price of being associated with a company that doesn't do what it's supposed to do?

When you want an above the board courier, and your goods safe, you have to use companies that don't take shortcuts, and that may mean asking awkward questions and keep on doing so, until you get the answer that satisfy you. You risk your goods being impounded if you don't. Is that worth it just to save a fiver here and there? And what would you tell your customer?

Sarah

Kent Same Day and parcel company

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Parcel deliveries getting them right...

The big courier and parcel companies may get it delivered cheap for you, but look what your parcel goes through in order to get delivered...

(This video may take a little time to load depending on your internet speed)



Items like parcels, that get trans-shipped will get thrown around, and if you have something that is fragile, even marking it as fragile will make little difference - it's a guideline only.

When you book your courier ask about their systems, how their drivers operate and what their policy on breakages is.

Sarah
West Thurrock Same day and Parcel couriers

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Delivering to pregnant women.

Tailoring your service to fit your customers needs is something you would think quite natural for Mothercare. The chances are if you are having a cot, pram etc delivered that the person signing for the goods will be pregant, quite healiy pregnant in some cases.

This is not the situation to abide by the rules, this is a situation for common sense. Here's what one disgruntled Mothercare customer has to say...

They were delivered on time, but in an appalling state. Some of the boxes and goods (things like a bouncer chair and the blankets) were delivered to me wet and in damaged packaging. The man dumped a heavy box in my hand to carry up the stairs. Im 33 weeks pregnant, and this was totally inapproprite. He refused to let me have the cot, and said the whole order had to be returned.

When I called up to complain the customer service manager was very rude with me, she said I was lucky they were delivered so quickly and was short, unsympathetic and totally unhelpful. she refused to put me through to a manager, or let me know when my goods would be redelivered.

I was made to feel like I was lucky there were there at all, and that my complaints were not taken seriously at all. I was spoken to very ruidely.

Mumsnet Discussions - mothercare are awful (Pregnancy)

Whatever problems there are at the depot, the customer shouldn't be getting wet and damaged deliveries, this is unnecessary damage to the Mothercare brand, it doesn't show any care at all. When choosing your courier, you need to brief them, and the courier driver needs to be aware that they may need extra lifting equipment or a two man team to deliver to pregnant women (this also counts for delivering to the elderly, and the physically disabled).

Mothercare are not the only company to neglect the needs of their customers. A birthing pool company have done the same in the past, refused to help a 38 week pregnant woman take the wooden pool upstairs as it "wasn't his job". When the mum-to-be waddled down, he was overcome with remorse and struggled with it and delivered it safely up two flights of stairs, in this instance a two man team should have been used. If the common had thought about it, they would know the likely recipent of a birthing pool is a heavily pregnant woman.

So if you are a company looking to deliver items to women who are heavily pregnant...

• Do you brief your drivers?
  

• Do you send out two man teams?


• Are you busy trying to save money?


• How much money would you save if you injured a pregnant woman through inconsideration?


• Can you afford the negative publicity?


• Can you sleep at night knowing a few quid off the bottom line, a few more quid in the shareholders pocket is actually causing pain and suffering to the customer base you are targetting?

Sarah

Couriers and delivery, for when your customers welfare actually matters to your business.

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5 things that go wrong with other couriers

I was thinking about the major players in the courier industry today. How they do the little niggling things like ring the doorbell for 1 minute on a Saturday morning delivery. That made me wonder what else they do wrong

1. They don’t re-deliver. You go out, miss delivery and they leave a card to collect from the depot thats 30 miles away and you cannot get it for another week…


2. They tell you any time between 9 and 5pm for delivery, and you wait and wait and wait… you call the depot at 5pm and ask about the delivery only to be told, they couldn’t find you.


3. The courier arrives three hours late for the collection, offers no reason or apology for wasting your time


4. The courier decides it’s acceptable to throw items in and out of the van


5. The courier doesn’t use safer, greening driving techniques and pulls away in a cloud of black exhaust fumes..

Top 5 things other parcel couriers do wrong…

Here at Arrow Light Haulage your local Essex and Kent courier, we take excellent care of your goods that we deliver, we treat them like the’re our own.

We give you fast, accurate collection times. When you use our dedicated / epress same day services you will get an accurate time for delivery. We don’t leave your goods on the doorstep if you are unable to bring it in yourself (although we are not obligated to). For an all round better, faster, greener,  effective courier service just give us a call on 0844 884 3331.

Sarah

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Delivering your dining table using a Kent courier

Couriers are often seen to be the most expensive options when it comes to deliveries, a dining table and chairs can be quite awkward and heavy to move. When you start to weigh up the cost of actually doing the job yourself, fuel, van hire, you begind to realise how a courier can actually save you.

These are generally too heavy to be delivered by parcel services. Depending on what they are made from, I would check with your courier company first. If it’s possible, the furture should be dismantled and packaged securely before collection, this reduces the cubic weight and makes it more likely your items can be delivered. Remember to package them carefully to prevent damage.Collecting and Delivering a Dining Table and Chairs by Same Day Courier

Pallet Networks - You dining is palletised and collected with other items and sent to the hub (usually in the Midlands) then put on a vehicle that will deliver to a depot and then on to you, the end destination. Your pallet may be ‘ugly freight‘ or oversized and this would be more expensive. There is high risk of damage using these services and it’s very difficult to establish where in the chain it happened.

Overnight / Economy courier - Your dining table is collected and loaded onto the vehicle, with other goods and delivered at some point in the next few days. The routes are as fuel efficient as possible, less chance of damage than a pallet network, but your item could risk some damage if the courier company does not secure their loads or protect your dining table and chairs correctly. We always secure our items and wrap them for added protection.

Same day or express courier -  you item is the only item on the vehicle, it is secured and delivered in one piece, the only method likely to result in the least amount of damage.

When you decide which type of courier you need, you also need to ask some other questions about timings and help unloading. You will also need to advise on parking restrictions etc.

If you need any advice, please don't hesitate to call us on 0844 884 3331 or 07816 528421

Sarah

Kent couriers collecting and delivering on your time

 

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Tolls increase on the cards at the Dartford Crossing

One of the most beautiful bridges in the UK, the Queen Elizabeth II bridge at the Dartford Crossing. You drive over into Kent and return via the Dartford tunnel into Essex.
The Department for Transport has recently concluded it’s low key survey about the Dartford River Crossing. The survey was so low key, they only received 67 responses… and they used these to make some changes.

Tolls are set to increase by 50% in the sutumn as a result of the survey. Motorists will now pay £1.50 to drive a car over the bridge or through the tunnel. Vans will pay £2.00 and Lorries will now pay £3.70 although there is no longer a charge if you use a trailer.Toll Increases At The Dartford River CrossingIn the last set of accounts (2006-2007) the crossing made £47 million in profit for the treasury, straight into the chancellors coffers. So why the increase? is £47 million not enough? Apparently not, and its businesses and residents local to Dartford and Thurrock that will pay for this.

Sarah

Thurrock and Dartford Couriers

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